India: Statement by General Secretary AITUC on 1st May 2023

All India Trade Union Congress - (AITUC)

Press Release

The following statement was issued by Ms. Amarjeet Kaur General Secretary AITUC for the National Secretariat of AITUC today -1st May 2023

AITUC expresses its anguish on the incident of several deaths and many people falling sick at Ludhiana with people dying of inhaling poisonous gas allegedly out of the industrial waste thrown into the water body there. The dichotomy is that the incident happened on the previous day of the May Day the international workers day.

AITUC deplores the violations of labour laws by the industry and the failure of governments in implementation of existing safety norms at workplaces and to protect the water bodies and air from pollution from the toxic waste of industry.

We have been raising the issue time and again that the violations of the occupational safety health norms(OSH norms) go on unchecked jeopardizing the health of workers and the people living in the vicinity. The Vishakhapatnam accident of a poisonous gas leak in a foreign company in 2021 exposed the violations that the company had not even applied for environmental clearance. The contract workers in most of the working place, especially in sewerage clearance, construction, and plantation sector keep dying day in and day out due to a lack of safety measures.

In the face of the hard truth of several incidents in various Factories where the workers lost their lives and violations of existing laws happened, the Government of India went ahead for non-requirements of Environment clearance for three years for start-ups and for foreign investors despite opposition from unions.

The Labour Code on OSH is designed to further dilute the existing norms increasing the risk to the health and life of workers and the surrounding population in the area of industry.

The two conventions on OSH has been brought to the Fundamental principles of rights at work by the ILO, India is still to ratify it.

We demand stringent action on the culprits of Ludhiana episode and ask the Central govt. to withdraw the present format of Code on OSH, ratify convention and redraft the code in tripartite mechanism.

We demand that the families of the victims of the incident be compensated appropriately.

Amarjeet Kaur

General Secretary

AITUC